The Science of Tracking Fertility Hormones

There are a limited number of days per cycle when a woman can conceive. Tracking your fertility hormones and knowing exactly when these fertile days occur is essential to getting pregnant.

Why track hormones?

Tracking your fertility and predicting when you ovulate can be difficult.
To be accurate, you need reliable and detailed data.

Luteinizing Hormone (LH)

Fertility hormone changes are a very accurate predictor of ovulation and peak fertility. During a menstrual cycle, a sudden increase of Luteinizing Hormone (LH) triggers the release of a mature egg from the ovary. This is defined as ovulation. The LH hormone concentration can be measured in urine. This sharp surge of LH in urine indicates an ovulation is about to occur within 24-48 hours, which are the two most fertile days to try conceiving.

Smart Al learning &
quantitative hormone tracking

Fewer missed peaks

Accurate fertility tracking often relates to precise hormone measurements of more than one cycle. By measuring quantitatively, you will be able to understand your unique hormone baseline levels, and how your hormone surges correlate to ovulation. You will have fewer missed peaks which are commonly seen by existing OPKs, learn more about your cycle, and know exactly when you should try to conceive.

Fertility Hormone Tracking vs Other Methods

With all the fertility tracking methods available, it can be confusing and even frustrating trying to figure out which one is the best for you. See how the accuracy of Mira stacks up against other fertility tracking methods:

Basal Body Temperature

Basal body temperatures (BBT) usually rises 0.5 to 1 degree F within 12 to 24 hours after ovulation happens. Since an egg only lives for one day, the BBT method will leave little fertile time to conceive. The sperm can survive up to 5 days in mucus secreted on women’s fertile days, which means there could be up to 5 more fertile days before ovulation happens that could be missed by the BBT method.

Mucus Observation

Your mucus changes with the progression of the menstrual cycle. Fertile mucus looks like raw egg white. Right after the end of period, there is usually little or no cervical mucus. Gradually it becomes more sticky and creamy. In the days right before ovulation, it resembles raw egg white and becomes very stretchy. The mucus observation methods can help you to become more aware of your body. However, the mucus can be affected by lifestyle, sex, infections and other factors. It also takes time to learn how to read the mucus change.

Calendar Method

You can try to map out your ovulation day based on cycle length and the starting date of the last cycle if you have very regular cycles. Ovulation usually happens 12-16 days before the starting date of your next period. However, you will need to record at least two cycles to understand the pattern. Even if your cycles are regular, actual cycle length and ovulation days within a cycle could still shift based on lifestyle and health condition.

Reserve Your Mira Today

Ready to easily, precisely, and automatically track your ovulation cycles? Let Mira take the guesswork out of getting pregnant, so you know exactly when to conceive.